The application relates to a chain for a work implement, to a method for producing a stud for a chain and also to a method for producing a driving member for a chain according to the subject matter of this application.
Chains for work implements are chains which serve for removing material from or cutting a workpiece. By way of example, a chain of this type can be a saw chain and have cutting teeth for cutting workpieces made of wood or the like. A chain of this type can also be a rock cutter chain having grinding elements for grinding mineral and metallic materials, for example concrete with steel reinforcements. During operation, particles form through the removal of material from the workpiece and can pass into the sites of joints of the chain, where they can lead to increased wear.
DE 42 28 509 A1 and DE 199 52 979 A1 disclose chains for work implements in which the joints are sealed off in order to avoid the penetration of abrasive particles to the sites of joints. This sealing is comparatively complex. The chains have a stud having a collar with an enlarged external diameter on which the driving member is pivotably mounted. A collar stud of this type is deformed at its end regions in such a way that the connecting members are connected fixedly, i.e. both fixed in terms of rotation and fixedly in the direction of the longitudinal central axis of the stud, to the stud at lateral portions of the stud. As a result, there is no relative movement between the stud and the lateral connecting members during operation. The articulated nature of the chain arises solely on account of the fact that the driving members are mounted on the collar of the stud in an articulated manner.